A former West Midlands MEP is in court this morning over allegations of money laundering and misconduct in a public office.

Nikki Sinclaire, who represented the region in Brussels between 2009 and 2014, signed and submitted “significant” expenses “in excess of the flight costs” according to the prosecution.

The 'We Demand a Referendum Party' founder, is accused of misconduct in a public office between October 2009 and July 2010 while a serving member of the European Parliament by making or causing to be made false or dishonest claims for travel expenses.

The 47-year-old, of Shirley, Solihull, is further charged between October 2009 and December 2010 of fraudulently transferring criminal property into her bank account.

Miss Sinclaire to give evidence on Monday

The prosecution case has now concluded and the jury sent home.It will resume on Monday when Miss Sinclaire will give evidence.

That brings an end to our coverage today. Thank you for joining us.

15:22Matt Cannon

Prosecution case to conclude shortly

The jury is now hearing a series of ‘agreed facts’.These are statements and bits of evidence both sides agree.The prosecution case will conclude shortly.

15:08KEY EVENT

Covert recording of Nigel Farage conversation

The press have now seen a copy of the transcript of the phone call between Mr Ison and Nigel Farage.In it, Mr Ison does most of the talking, with Mr Farage only saying the odd one word answer.During the call, Mr Ison tells Me Farage that he has “grave concerns” about Steve Morson and how he fears he is on the brink of resigning.He tells Mr farage that he will “keep an eye on him”.They then discuss that miss sinclaire was likely to be admitted back into the UKIP fold.Mr farage said:

Mad!

Mr Ison said:

Absolutely. Abso-bloody-lutely”

It concluded with Mr Ison promising to keep Mr Farage posted.

Nigel Farage

15:04Matt Cannon

MEP's aide denies falsely collating fraudulent expenses

Mr Hammond accused Mr Ison of sneaking into miss Sinclaire’s office and falsely collating the fraudulent expenses claims at the heart of this trial Mr Ison replied that was not true and he didn’t do it.

Mr Hammond will now begin to conclude his cross-examination of Mr Ison

Anthonie Muller, for the prosecution, is now doing a ‘re-examination, going back over some of his evidence.

15:03Matt Cannon

'Sinclaire has left UKIp ... what a f****** shame :o)'

In another Instant Message exchange, Mr Ison was told that Miss Sinclaire had left a UKIP meeting in tears after she was excluded.His reply was “f**king shame” with several smiley face emojis.

Mr Hammond accused Mr Ison of sneaking into Miss Sinclaire’s office and falsely collating the fraudulent expenses claims at the heart of this trial

Mr Ison replied that was not true and he didn’t do it

14:48Matt Cannon

We Demand a Referendum Party beginnings

Mr Ison admitted registering some of the names Miss Sinclaire was toying with for the name of the new party she was setting up.He said he did it to scupper her ambitions, telling the court it was just “party politics”.He also admitted calling Miss Sinclaire a “f****** bitch” behind her back repeatedly in emails .

14:41Matt Cannon

Nikki Sinclaire arriving in court earlier

14:34Matt Cannon

IM shows MEP's aide had obtained her computer's password

Mr Hammond, defending, is now going through Instant Messages between Mr Ison and UKIP west Midlands activist, Steve Morson.In them, it is clear Mr Ison has obtained Miss Sinclaire’s password for her computer.Mr Hammond asked Mr Ison if he obtained it through spyware keystroke software he had installed.“No, sir,” he replied.When asked how he’d obtained it, he said the password had “been mentioned in the office, in a note”.

14:33Matt Cannon

Jury back in court

The jury is back in court and proceedings have begun again.Mr Ison will continue his evidence.

13:28Matt Cannon

Covert recording of Farage and Ison played to court

The court has just been played a covert recording Mr Ison made of a phone call between himself and Nigel Farage.In the phone call the men are believed to have been discussing Miss Sinclaire’s possible re-admittance into UKIP.Most of the recording was inaudible, but the jury, barristers and judge were all able to follow it via written transcripts.Members of the press have requested a copy of the transcript and recording and if successful, will publish those later today.When questioned about the recording, Mr Ison said he did not mean to record it so must have done it “inadvertently”.The court has now broken for lunch till 2.05pm.

12:52Matt Cannon

Ison: 'I wanted to protect UKIP'

Mr Ison said that although he had stood for UKIP in the 2010 General election, he did not leak information to further his own political ambitions.He maintains it was to protect the party.Mr Hammond has again put it to Mr Ison that he was trying to smear miss sinclaire with expenses fraud.“No, absolutely not” Mr Ison replied.

John Ison at the Solihull election count in 2010.

12:42Matt Cannon

John Ison fed Nigel Farage 'sensitive' information

Mr Ison admitted that between November 2009 and Jan 2010 he was feeding Mr Farage “sensitive” information once a week.

He told the court:

I was doing it to protect the party.”

12:36KEY EVENT

Aide: 'I was a mole for Nigel Farage'

Mr Ison has now admitted being a mole for UKIP leader Nigel Farage, who had a long running battle with then MEP Miss Sinclaire. Under cross examination by Mr Hammond, he said he was introduced to Mr Farage by the MEP Mike Nattrass.

From November 2009 he admitted he was in weekly contact with Mr Farage

12:18Matt Cannon

Aide denies bugging MEP's computer

Mr Ison has denied installing spy ware in Miss Sinclaire’s computer .When asked by Mr Hammond if he had made that illegal act, Mr Ison replied:

Mr Hammond, defending, put it to Mr Ison that accusing Miss Sinclaire of fraud was his “ plan B” after his previous attempt of discrediting her by revealing she was a bankrupt had failed “No, not at all,” Mr Ison replied.

12:10KEY EVENT

Aide briefed Nigel Farage about Sinclaire

Mr Ison has admitted leaking sensitive information which Miss Sinclaire had told him in confidence .

After a long period of cross examination, he replied:

It was more than likely yes”

He also admitted to briefing Nigel Farage against Miss Sinclaire.

Nigel Farage.

11:57Matt Cannon

'You were stabbing her in the back constantly'

Mr Hammond, defending, is going through how Mr Ison came to be employed by Miss Sinclaire, and the set-up of UKIP in the European parliament.Mr Ison said he became Miss Sinclaire’s political assistant straight after graduation.

Mr Ison has told the court that although part of his duties include d the running of the office, they did not include organising her expenses.

Mr Hammond has just accused Mr Ison of waging a campaign against Miss Sinclaire.

He said:

You were stabbing her in the back constantly, undermining her, talking about her in a disparaging way.”

Mr Ison replied:

Absolutely not, she was my employer.”

11:46Matt Cannon

Court resumes - John Ison returns to witness box

The court has resumed and John Ison is back in the witness box being cross examined by Miss Sinclaire s barrister Sean Hammond.

Former West Midlands regional committee secretary John Ison.

11:41KEY EVENT

Recap - opening four days of the trial

Former MEP Nikki Sinclaire is appearing in court this morning facing allegations

Miss Sinclaire, who represented the West Midlands region as an MEP in Brussels and Strasbourg until 2014, is alleged to have claimed for “significant” expenses for petrol which she did not use.

The Crown has alleged Sinclaire, who was a UKIP MEP at the time of the alleged offending, wrongly claimed for thousands of Euros in road and ferry travel expenses when in fact she had travelled more cheaply by air.

The amount claimed were “in excess of the flight costs” according to the prosecution.